devnet, Author at Yet Another Linux Blog

Experiment Update!

After a lengthy downtime this past weekend due to a server hard disk crash, we’re back up. I moved the server to a new machine this past week as well so we didn’t get time to install Fedora Core current for review either. Therefore, the next step in the experiment will happen on Wednesday when we go forward with Fedora Core current. Mrs.devnet will take a look at FC followed by Ubuntu current next week sometime. She’ll then pick the top two distros of all those reviewed. Then we will have <assume Charlton Heston-like booming voice> THE GREAT DISTRO DRAW DOWN!!!</assume>. Mrs.devent will crown the victor and we’ll have our winner of the “Best New User Linux Distro”

Why is this important? Mainly because it has never been done before. Usually, a linux USER with experience will review a distribution. In this case, someone who has zero Linux experience is reviewing these distros and they’re doing it according to criteria that a windows user would have and rating it according to what provides the best experience for them out of the box; mainly, thing such as checking email, web surfing, file sharing, and playing music. A high percentage of people out there only want a computer for that very reason and this experiment is designed to address those people (such as mrs.devnet 😛 ) and encourage them to try out Linux and making the choice for Windows-Like distro easier.

When the winner is crowned I will draw up a nifty award badge that can be displayed as a linkback to the article which will linkback to the developers main site. I’ll also do a follow up Q&A session with the developer of the winning distro. I’ll also ask the main developer if they will display the LinuxBlog badge on the main site somewhere. This way, the distro that wins may get the attention it deserves. Believe me, whichever distro wins this contest will have EARNED it. Instead of just being a review of some distro from a fanboi as 90% of the ‘reviews’ are out there, it will be an actual deserved win for a distro that is the best for someone trying to get out of the windows rut.

Since the experiment is unique, I’ll need your help to make it a success and give it the exposure it deserves. If your favorite distro is chosen, I’d like to ask you all to help me promote the review. This means posting link backs to it in every single forum or site you can find. Remember, this isn’t to drive traffic here (that’s what blogrolling is for) it is to draw attention to the winner! Linux needs a champion for Windows converts and whichever distro wins this experiment will be the one Linux Blog will stand behind. After the experiment concludes and you’d like to help out, just post a comment under the article and make sure to fill in the blank provided for your email. I’ll contact you with information on where I’ve submitted to so that we don’t have double submissions and then we can get started promoting the winner!

If anyone has any questions or comments, please drop them in the comments section of this post. I’m open to suggestions! Thanks for reading!

Linux Swiss Cheese? Not Likely…

Linuxblog Editors Note: This article was written as a direct response to the report published by Security Innovation in March 2005 featured at various news sites.

It’s studies like the one discussed in this article that really hit nerves. Not for the reason that most people get upset about them…I hope people realize that there will always be FUD flowing from the patent pending FUD machines at M$ headquaters. One can only hope that as people become more and more computer savvy, that things will change in this respect. In the meantime, comments will flourish on subjects like this. But I’m not upset about this subject for the reasons that people think. I’m not an open source zealot proclaiming the GPL from the pulpit; rather, I am a supporter of Open Source, a user of Open Source, and a believer in Open Source. The reason this article makes my teeth gnash is the level of professionalism in the report it is discussing. What? Two Noted Doctors in the computer science field and a security author lack professionalism? You’re 100% right on that one. If they were professional, they would have made unbiased decisions AND stepped down if a conflict of interest existed. For more info, read on:

Let’s do a quick rundown of what the article is trying to say. Basically, the article states that there is something called “days of risk” that signify how many days an enterprise server has vulnerabilities that are unpatched. The study found that Microsoft 2003 server was only vulnerable for average of 30 days while Red Hat ELS 3 was open for 71 days. Considering the way in which vulnerabilities are addressed at Microsoft and their approach to solving said vulnerabilities this is highly unlikely. Let’s not worry about these ‘days of risk’ to begin with. Instead, let’s take a look at some interesting tidbits of information that one can find by reading the report and cross comparing it with a couple of websites.

Continue reading “Linux Swiss Cheese? Not Likely…”

Disagreements + Groklaw = Deletion?

Open source software. When one builds their site upon open source and with supportive intentions toward open source, they are declaring that this site will have its innards laid bare and have an open policy toward all walks of life, all opinions for good or bad. For instance, if anyone wants any content from this website, they are able to take it at their leisure provided they give credit where credit is due. These aren’t at all a very hard concepts to grasp and use. Or are they?

In our last article on Groklaw.net, we went over one person’s experience as a groklaw user and content provider of that site. Of the points discussed, no one could argue that Mr. Petrofsky was unreasonable at any time, nor could one argue that he was at all unprofessional in his requests and his behavior. By examining the evidence presented in that article, one can infer that he was indeed deceived. Today, we’ll look into more possible examples of deception and censorship from the site where “open source principles are applied.” We’ll be chatting with an ex-moderator from Groklaw named Brenda Banks aka br3n who was removed as a moderator after expressing her opinion about certain matters at groklaw. After having her moderator status stripped from her, she then asked to be removed from the userlist based on her own moral compass. Read on for more on br3n.

Q: Please give the readers some background on yourself (any you feel is necessary)

br3n: I am a grandmother of 5 grandchildren, married 35+ years, nontechie type.

Q: Where did you get your start with technology?

br3n: I bought a computer in 98 with win 95 on it and it had the win 98 upgrade. I had a commodore 64 and commodore 128 many years ago, but never did anything other than print a few things like cards and banners. I started with linux in november 2001.

Q: Do you use GPL software? If so, what do you use?

br3n: Yes. I use mandrake 10.2

Q: What does the GPL mean to you?

br3n: it means that I can try to fix and control my own software to suit myself. I am not allowing any information out without my knowledge.

Q: What was your specific role at groklaw and how did you get your start there?

br3n: I was moderator. I gave PJ news links and helped with quote data base. I was so frightened when I first learned about the SCO vs IBM suit. I did constant news searches on SCO and found mettler’s site by a link from on slashdot. Mettler had a link to groklaw. I lurked for a while because I didnt feel I had anything to contribute to her [Pamela Jones from Groklaw aka PJ]. In fact then very few people posted at all. That was in either late May or early June. Then I got my nerve up to write her an email about one of her articles and we started corresponding. I would email news links to her with short summaries from the article that were the most important.

Q: What was the ultimate goal you hoped to achieve by being a contributor at groklaw?

br3n: I dont think I ever set out to do anything. I found something I could handle such as sending her the links for news articles and it helped her with her time since she was working. I also helped with the quote data base.

Q: How would you classify your time spent at groklaw? Fun? Informative? Horrible? Please explain.

br3n: I had a lot of fun but most from reading others comments.sometimes I feel sad that I was so blind to be willing to trust someone like that. I was horribly disappointed in the treatment dealt from PJ at groklaw for things that happened off site.

Q: When (if at all) did you notice things starting to go awry at groklaw?

br3n: My first alarms/questions arose when the announcement came out that PJ was working at OSRM, then came the 283 patent infringement possibilities announced around the same time. Then when jgabriel [another Groklaw user] had his account deleted there was no way to ignore things anymore. This was when I tested PJ by email asking about his deletion and posting mild criticism of her on yahoo [The Yahoo SCO finance boards]. She never answered the email about him and she then removed moderation powers from me without correspondance. I felt that was the answer I would have to accept and that she would keep ignoring what she doesnt want to answer. Deleting his [jgabriel’s] account and making all his posts anon, was just the most terrible/disrespectful thing I thought I had ever heard of.

Continue reading “Disagreements + Groklaw = Deletion?”

Experiment 1.3: Update…Where have we been?

Where have we been?!?! What’s up with the experiment!?!? Well, let me tell you…Texstar has seemingly won over my wife with this distribution of Linux. As stated previously by her, she expected a glowing review of the distro and currently, she can’t get enough of PCLinuxOS. So, since this is such a great distro and it has interrupted the experiment a bit…mrs.devnet made me promise two things as far as the experiment goes… 1) Leave PCLinuxOS on the computer for about 10 days so I can use Limewire (massively fast speeds) 2) Since we’re spending so long on this one…I don’t want to do 3 more…so cut one distro from the list.

No problems there. I am going to cut Knoppix from the list since it is not primarily a ‘desktop’ distro. So, we’ll have Ubuntu current and Fedora Core 4 (test or full) remaining. After all is said and done, we’ll have a head to head rehash of the top two distributions…we’ll look really detailed into those for the final head to head review…and we’ll declare an overall winner.

On the distant horizon, we’ll be taking a look at Linspire 5.0, Xandros 3.0 Deluxe, and Lycoris.

Finals are Finally Over! Back to Linux!

Phew! Finals week for me is completely over. I’d have to say that things were a bit hectic. I’ve neglected quite a few things, mainly the new user Linux experiment we’ve been conducting on this site. But I do plan to make up for lost time. Tonight, my wife will be installing PCLinuxOS 8.1a and taking it for a spin over the next week. She’ll post a ‘first impression’ entry tomorrow sometime. I had meant to do this earlier but the server problems kept me from ‘having fun’ and instead made me pick through SQL code…which took many snickers bars and plenty of coffee.

Another topic that will come into play soon is my installation notes on a Debian install on a Thinkpad 755C. Nothing short of Linux and amazing that this laptop, which was running Win95 when someone gave it to me, is now up and running with Xwindows. Check back next week for those install notes complete with links and directions to go up. These laptops sure are rugged. As soon as I get a replacement battery, this one will become my work horse 🙂

In the meantime, I also have another groklaw article that will be coming into play during the next 2 weeks…depending on verification of a few sources and waiting on an email. Some of you might wonder a bit at why I publish articles about groklaw…if you notice, they are under the category “Great Divide” which is reserved specifically for things I think divide the open source and Linux communities. It is my opinion that groklaw does this in varying degrees. It’s not an entirely bad site…I think they have some good content…but in my opinion the site has the inability to admit when it is wrong. We’ll be taking a look at this concept with a series of articles in that category. Also, please note that I have no groklaw account; There is no political or grokwarian motivation for my writing. I write only about things I see as deceptive, injustices, or censorship…or a little bit of all.

Lot’s on the horizon! Once again, thanks for reading. If you require any assistance whatsoever with Linux or Linux Apps (no matter what distro) please visit the forum and ask away!

Site Update!

The site recently experienced some heavy downtime due to a MySQL problem. I’ve isolated the problem, clipped it out, reformed the database, and brought us back inline. I apologize EXTREMELY for this downtime…I realize it reeks of amateurism and ( *sheepish grin* ) makes me look like a total n00b. The forum is back online after some mad SQL editing over the last couple of days…for some reason the backup wouldn’t restore so I had to go over it line by line to isolate the problem. Luckily I found it after the second day or I would have been lost in SQL-space.

OH well! Life goes on. On another note, the experiment has been on hold for the last few days so that I could bring things inline. I’ve also neglected my email and other stuffs such as the multimedia machine I’m building. I’ll get back to everyone…although I may be a few days behind. We’ll install PCLinuxOS 8.1 in a few days…afterall, it is finals week for my college classes and I’ll be quite busy! Thanks for staying tuned…things will be much more close to normal after this week.